AML resources

Keep up-to-date on the key changes in the money laundering regime and receive guidance that will help inform your risk assessment, policies and procedures.

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All Too Familiar - ICAEW’s third training film
It explores the degree of trust still placed in personal and professional relationships and whether trust is enough in the fight against economic crime. It aims to challenge mindsets and provoke discussion on the need for greater professional scepticism when faced with potential money laundering risks. The UK offices of ICAEW supervised firms and insolvency practitioners have been sent a link to stream the film and the learning materials (email sent 9 March 2022). The email was sent to MLROs / MLCPs, insolvency practitioners and the ICAEW regulatory point of contact i.e PA or audit principal. Please speak to your firm contact for access to the film.

AMLbites
Providing you with the basics on popular money laundering topics. Each video lasts around 10 minutes and is freely available for all to view. These videos are aimed at money laundering reporting officers, compliance principals and people in regulatory roles. These could also be used as a training tool for your staff.

Firm-wide risk assessments
Our anti-money laundering supervision team aims to break down the components of your FWRA, helping you recognise and document:

The purpose of the FWRA
How the FWRA impacts your customer due diligence
Risks your business may be vulnerable to
Risk categories
Risk mitigations
Live Q&A

Firm-wide risk assessments: Q&A
The Q&A session in ICAEW’s recent anti-money laundering (AML) webinar on firm-wide risk assessments (FWRAs) highlighted a range of issues. We pick out some common themes, and ICAEW’s AML team provides responses to key questions.

Money laundering risks - A practical guide
Our expert panel help you to understand the concept of risk when performing customer due diligence, emerging money laundering risks, how to ensure staff understand and recognise risk and host a question and answer session.

The Q&A session from this webinar highlighted a range of issues. We pick out some common themes, and experts from ICAEW's anti-money laundering (AML) team and leading firms provide responses to key questions.

Read the webinar Q&A

Cryptoassets: how to spot money laundering red flags webinar
Our expert panel help you understand what is meant by cryptoassets, how crypto can be abused by criminals and what the warning signs or risk factors might be. They also discuss case studies and provide the view of a money laundering reporting officer.

How to verify your client webinar
The team use case studies to demonstrate the stages of client verification and how these should link to your AML risk assessment.

Money laundering risk assessments
Our panel of speakers including MLROs, AML professionals and the ICAEW supervisory team, discussed how to perform a money laundering risk assessment and when to revisit it in this live webinar.

Customer Due Diligence
Learn about the key elements of CDD, what your obligations are and listen to a case study discussion in this webinar recording.

DAMLs and Tipping Off
Find out when to submit a Defence Against Money Laundering and what constitutes Tipping Off.

Suspicious Activity Reports and the accountancy sector
ICAEW's anti-money laundering supervision team were joined by the National Crime Agency and other AML professionals for this live webinar event. The webinar discussed money laundering risks, SARs and the law, SARs and the role of the MLRO. It also featured case studies and a live Q&A.

Suspicious Activity Reports and the accountancy sector Q&A discussion
Following on from the Suspicious Activity Reporting webinar, Michelle Giddings, ICAEW Professional Standards' Head of AML, and Angela Foyle, Partner at BDO and Chair of the AML Committee of Accountancy Europe discussed some of the questions raised during the event.

Simplified and enhanced due diligence: one size doesn’t fit all
Anti-money laundering (AML) experts Angela Foyle from BDO and Jonathan Wright from EY talk about ‘simplified’ and ‘enhanced’ due diligence, and explain why there’s never a one size fits all approach to managing AML risk.

Customer due diligence: telling the story
Customer due diligence (CDD) is a key part of your anti-money laundering (AML) duties. ICAEW’s AML supervisory team and AML professionals from leading firms explain the fundamentals of CDD and provide some practical tips.

Checking the evidence: is your client who they say they are?
Risk-based client verification is at the core of customer due diligence (CDD). ICAEW's anti-money laundering (AML) team and AML experts from leading firms offer some tips on how to source reliable evidence to verify that your client is who they say they are.

Locking Russia out of UK accountancy services
UK foreign secretary, Liz Truss, recently announced a ban on providing accountancy services to Russian businesses. As the sector awaits further details and a timetable for implementing these latest sanctions, Michelle Giddings, ICAEW’s Head of AML, outlines the likely implications and what firms can start doing to prepare.

Hitting a nerve
All Too Familiar, an educational drama created by ICAEW in collaboration with HMRC, examines the powerful role of professional scepticism in reducing the risk of economic crime. In the first of a series of articles looking at the different ways firms of all sizes are using the film to inform and train staff, we talk to a senior partner in a small independent practice.

AML telephone monitoring reviews: a two-way process
Reviewers from ICAEW’s Quality Assurance Department (QAD) have introduced monitoring reviews focused solely on anti-money laundering (AML) compliance. We look at why your firm might receive a call, what you can do to prepare, and how to make the most of the advice on offer.

Is trust enough? AML and professional scepticism
ICAEW’s latest educational drama film, All Too Familiar, examines the role of professional scepticism in the fight against economic crime. Produced in collaboration with HMRC, the film looks at a real life scenario of how firms and individuals may inadvertently become ‘professional enablers’ for criminals involved in everything from financial fraud to modern slavery and terrorism.

Back to the office: seize the opportunity to refresh your AML culture
The return to office-based working offers the ideal opportunity for MLROs to reflect on changes to the risk landscape over the past 18 months, check their firms’ AML policies and procedures remain fit for purpose, and refresh staff training.

SARs reporting: emerging threats
In the rapidly changing landscape of economic crime, new risks are emerging all the time. In the second part of our interview with Martin Cox of the UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU), we talk about COVID-19, Fintech, cryptoassets and human trafficking.

The MLRO in practice: uncovering economic crime
Being a money laundering reporting officer (MLRO) is about much more than meeting regulatory requirements. We talk to some experienced MLROs and their deputies about what it takes to succeed in the role, how they make a difference, and being brave.

The role of the MLRO: beyond compliance
Taking on the role of money laundering reporting officer can be daunting, and it isn’t always clear what’s required of you. We talk to ICAEW’s anti-money laundering supervisory team about the legislative background to the role, the importance of an open culture, and the sometimes unexpected skills you’ll need to do the job effectively.

SARs: making a difference
Submitting a suspicious activity report (SAR) is much more than a routine compliance obligation. We talk to Martin Cox, Head of Engagement, Communications and Risk Management, UK Financial Intelligence Unit (UKFIU), about the critical role ICAEW firms and members play in piecing together information that can protect vulnerable people and bring criminals to justice.

Follow the money: How to combat money laundering
Firms need to be alert to the constantly shifting threat of money laundering, says Caroline Biebuyck.
Take professional scepticism to the next level, Met Police forensic accountant urges
Joanna Bliault, a forensic accountant at the Metropolitan Police, urges accountants to take their professional scepticism to the next level and act on the most common red flags she has encountered in the line of duty.

Understanding money laundering risks
A shared understanding between law enforcement, supervisory bodies and firms of money laundering and terrorist financing risks is crucial to ensuring firms recognise when they are at risk of being used to facilitate money laundering.

ICAEW takes the chair at the AML Supervisors Forum
ICAEW continues to be at the forefront of Anti Money Laundering (AML) supervision and now, throughout 2021, ICAEW’s Michelle Giddings, Head of AML, has been elected as Chair of the AML Supervisors Forum, set up by HM Treasury under the 2007 Money Laundering Regulations.

How we cracked down on money laundering from home
Michelle Giddings, chair of the 2021 AML Supervisors Forum, outlines the measures ICAEW has taken to tackle anti-money laundering compliance during lockdown

COVID-support fraud: staying vigilant on the frontline
Fraudsters have been targeting COVID-19 business support schemes since their inception. And although the key programmes ended during 2021, the issue has not gone away. For accountancy firms now preparing year-end accounts, staying alert to COVID-related fraud is more important than ever.

Economic crime: gatekeeper or enabler?
With fraud on the rise, we look at how ICAEW is working with other stakeholders to ensure its member firms stay at the forefront of the fight against economic crime, and avoid unwittingly becoming professional enablers.